{"id":30312,"date":"2013-01-22T09:54:58","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T07:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=30312"},"modified":"2013-01-22T10:06:51","modified_gmt":"2013-01-22T08:06:51","slug":"ellies-hopeful-over-dtt-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/30312\/ellies-hopeful-over-dtt-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellies hopeful over DTT contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ellies Holdings<\/a>, which manufactures and distributes electronic products related to television reception, is hopeful that it can still play a role in the \u201cimminent\u201d migration from analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television<\/a> in Southern Africa.<\/p>\n

However, Tellumat<\/a>, a contract manufacturing company also hoping to be a player in the digital migration, has raised concerns over further delays in the tender process regarding the\u00a0manufacture and distribution of set-top boxes (STBs), following a recent South Gauteng high court case.<\/p>\n

Free-to-air channel, e-tv<\/a> successfully argued that the Department of Communications (DoC<\/a>) could not give Sentech, the state-owned broadcasting signal distributor, the rights to manage the control system in the set-top boxes to be used in the impending migration process.<\/p>\n

The DoC said it would appeal the court decision, and without clarity on the STB control system, production of set-top boxes can\u2019t begin.<\/p>\n

The tender process has, as a result, been delayed, having attracted huge interest after being opened up to international companies.<\/p>\n

An STB is a decoder-like box that will allow TV viewers to use their existing analogue TV sets to receive the new DVB-T2 digital TV signal. This is set to replace South Africa\u2019s aging analogue terrestrial broadcasting standard.<\/p>\n

While e.tv said the development \u201cwill speed up\u201d the already massively delayed migration process, the judgment would have just the opposite effect, argued Tellumat, adding that it has already spent five years working with the DoC developing the digital broadcasting specification, solutions and market strategies.<\/p>\n

Elllies results<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Tuesday (22 January), Ellies reported a 102.4% leap in headline earnings per share to 42.46 cents in the six months to October 2012\u201a from 20.98 cents a year earlier.<\/p>\n

Revenue was up 56.1% to R1.1 billion as a result of growth in both the consumer goods division and the infrastructure division.<\/p>\n

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation rose by 88% to R198.2 million\u201a with an improved Ebitda margin of 17.6% from 14.6% in October 2011. No interim dividend was declared.<\/p>\n

The group noted a decline in cash of R11.8 million as compared to 30 April 2012, which it said was considered satisfactory by management, in view of the significant investment in advance of the DTT and additional Eskom Project Power Save programmes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis investment extends to local production capacity, raw materials and inventory. The timing of both these projects has impacted on short-term working capital demands. Ellies is well-positioned to rollout these projects with reduced further working capital investment,\u201d Ellies said.<\/p>\n

SkyVine<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellies, says it would adopt a conservative approach towards SkyeVine, its 45% owned subsidiary, and entry into the internet satellite services market.<\/p>\n

\u201cEllies management continues to adopt a conservative approach towards SkyeVine, while cautiously optimistic of demand growth in this sector, as additional service providers enter this space,\u201d said chief executive Wayne Samson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DTT<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe DTT migration rollout through Southern Africa is imminent, subject to the Department of Communication finalising its legal issues. Ellies, together with the group’s strong strategic partners and alliances, is well-positioned to participate in and benefit from this rollout,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

It noted that DTT aerials and dishes are currently being exported to other African countries with new production machinery being installed to increase local production and employment. \u201cWith the continued weakening of the Rand, greater export penetration into Africa is expected to continue. With the growth of local production, trade within the SADAC region is also expected to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellies said that the existing order book, including tenders won, as relates to both new diversified and traditional sectors, remains solid.<\/p>\n

More on Ellies<\/h3>\n

Manufacturer wades into digital TV debacle<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

E-tv: the DoC is lying<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Digital TV decoder high court appeal: DoC responds<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Digital Terrestrial Television strategy misguided: DA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

TV STB rollout plan approved by Cabinet<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellies delivers strong earnings<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

DoC sets date for digital TV switch-on<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ellies is hopeful that it can play a part in the \u201cimminent\u201d Digital Terrestrial Television migration process in Southern Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":20404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1598,1648,1444,2092,4294,557,26,1646,3201,5035,5009],"class_list":["post-30312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-department-of-communication","tag-digital-terrestrial-television","tag-doc","tag-dtt","tag-e-tv","tag-ellies","tag-headline","tag-sentech","tag-skyevine","tag-skyvine","tag-tellumat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30312"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30319,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30312\/revisions\/30319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}